AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of November 8, 2013
eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner
This week's issues:
1. Why So Few? Transition to College
2. Factors Affecting Physical Science Careers of Females
3. The Center for Urban Science and Progress
4. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Research Analyst in the Defense Industry
5. Women's Lunch at the DPS Meeting
6. Richard H. Emmons Award for Excellence in College Astronomy Teaching
7. 2014 Professional Skills Development Workshop
8. APS Outreach Grant
9. APS Minority Scholarships
10. Job Opportunities
11. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
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1. Why So Few? Transition to College
From: Joan Schmelz at womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
Women are less likely than men to declare a STEM major in college.
The 2010 report entitled, Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics, by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), finds
that despite the overall positive trends in high school, the transition to
college is a critical time for young women in STEM. Women are less likely than
men are to plan to declare a STEM major in college. In 2006 (the most recent
data available), only about 15% of first-year female college students compared
with more than a quarter (25%) of first-year male college students planned to
declare a major in the physical sciences, mathematics or statistics,
engineering, computer science, or the biological/agricultural sciences. If, for
a moment, we did not consider the biological/agricultural sciences - indicated
here in blue and the STEM area women are most likely to major in - only about 5%
of first-year female students intend to major in a STEM area in college.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/
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2. Factors Affecting Physical Science Careers of Females
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
Testing five common hypotheses of factors that affect physical science careers
of females is discussed in Phys. Rev. ST Physics Ed. Research 9, 020115 (2013).
No significant effects are found for the following four factors: Single-sex
classes, female teachers, female scientist guest speakers, and discussion of the
work of female scientists. However, the fifth factor, discussions about women's
underrepresentation, did have a significant positive effect. To read the
abstract, please see:
http://prst-per.aps.org/abstract/PRSTPER/v9/i2/e020115
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3. The Center for Urban Science and Progress
From: Anonymous at womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
I'd like to share with this community what I learned from a talk about the
recently-established Center for Urban Science and Progress at NYU. Steve Koonin,
the Center's director, is a MIT-trained physicist with a strong track record in
both research and public policy, serving on the Caltech faculty and as
Undersecretary for Science in the Department of Energy, among many other things.
Steve gave an engaging talk presenting examples of CUSP research as well as a
sales pitch for his new center. If you are interested in
non-astronomy-professor job opportunities for astronomers, read on.
Aside from the fact that most of us live in cities and thus care at least a
little bit about urban planning and infrastructure, I found his presentation to
be of particular interest from the standpoint of applying the tools of astronomy
to problems cities face. There are currently enormous -- and growing -- data
sets characterizing the urban landscape, ranging from images of various parts of
the city to GPS tags on taxis and cell phones to numbers collected by public
utilities.
To read more, please see:
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/
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4. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Research Analyst in the Defense Industry
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment
Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of
career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and
lessons learned from individuals on those paths.
Below is our interview with Eileen Chollet, an astronomer turned Research
Analyst in the defense industry. If you have questions, suggestions, advice to
share, etc. about this career path, please leave a comment below.
To read more, please see
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/10/career-profiles-astronomer-to-research.html
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5. Women's Lunch at the DPS Meeting
From: Hannah at womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
I recently went to the DPS (Division for Planetary Sciences) meeting in Denver,
and attended the Women's Lunch organized by Kelsi Singer. Kelsi put together a
terrific program centered around a workshop on leadership development.
What I liked about this lunch was that it was more than just an open-ended
free-form lunch, or listening passively to some speaker. Rather, it was more of
an informal workshop that got us all talking to each other in a constructive way
and actively engaged us in thinking about how to better ourselves. It's not
unlike the difference between traditional lecturing in classrooms versus active
learning techniques that ask students to solve problems during class, come to
think of it.
To read more:
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/
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6. Richard H. Emmons Award for Excellence in College Astronomy Teaching
From: Michele M. Montgomery [montgomery_at_physics.ucf.edu]
The Richard A. Emmons award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is
given to an individual who demonstrates outstanding achievement in the teaching
of college-level introductory astronomy for non-science majors. Nominees must
teach college-level introductory astronomy for non-science majors. Letters of
nominations must be received by January 1, 2014. To read more on the award,
please see
http://www.astrosociety.org/about-us/the-richard-h-emmons-award-for-excellence-in-
college-astronomy-teaching/
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7. 2014 Professional Skills Development Workshop
From: WIPHYS, November 7, 2013
The American Physical Society (APS), with support from NSF, will host two
Professional Skills Development Workshops in 2014 for female physicists.
Postdoctoral associates and early to mid-career faculty and scientists are
invited to apply. Senior graduate students (defined as a student graduating
within the next six months), recent graduates, and physicists in-between careers
are also welcome to apply.
Applicants affiliated with a US institution/facility are eligible for travel and
lodging funding consideration. Those needing funding assistance are encouraged
to apply early. The deadlines for the workshops and a link to the online
application can be found here:
http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/skills/index.cfm
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8. APS Outreach Grant
From: WIPHYS, November 7, 2013
Do you have an idea for engaging the public in physics? If so, apply for an
American Physical Society (APS) Outreach Grant. This grant is only for APS
members. The deadline is December 15, 2014. Please see,
http://go.aps.org/18PdNOT
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9. APS Minority Scholarships
From: WIPHYS, November 7, 2013
Applications are being accepted for the American Physical Society (APS) Minority
Scholarships! Undergrad physics majors need to apply by February 7, 2014. Please
see
http://go.aps.org/vVc8Gm
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10. Job Opportunities
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their
organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:
http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease
* Tenure track Assistant Professor Nuclear/Astrophysicist San Diego State
http://www.physics.sdsu.edu/job-opportunities/
* Tenure track Assistant Professor in Physics Education
http://rowanuniversity.hodesiq.com/jobs/assistant-professor-in-physics-education-
full-time-tenure-track-glassboro-new-jersey-job-3994917
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11. How to Submit to the AASWomen newsletter
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Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.
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13. Access to Past Issues
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWomen.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
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